UMass’ long run comes to end

Credit: AP

NEW YORK — Chaz Williams came home only to have UMass go home one game faster than the best little point guard from the nation’s biggest city intended.

“At this moment, (my homecoming) don’t mean nothing,” said Williams. “(Coming) back home to go back to school wasn’t part of my plan.”

Stanford ruined it by packing the paint, winning the boards and overcoming the Cardinal’s own 37 percent shooting by making Williams put up 18 shots to get 19 points in UMass’ 74-64 NIT semifinal loss.

Williams played an out-of-control first 10 minutes, picked up his third foul with 3:31 to go in the half, limped through the second half with a calf problem, and in 36 hard minutes ran into a team that limited UMass to only eight fast-break points.

“I don’t think he ever gets nervous,” said Minutemen coach Derek Kellogg. “I do think he wanted to do a lot tonight and put on a New York City-style performance. He was playing a little fast to start, pressed a little bit, was getting too deep on his drives. But that goes back to his competitive nature. The last month he was as good as I have seen. But (Stanford) has good size and length and was packing it in defensively.

“Where he normally gets going is in transition, and I didn’t think we rebounded well enough to get him there.”

After both teams struggled offensively through the first 10 minutes of the second half, Williams fed a 3-pointer by Freddie Riley that gave UMass, down 12 in the first half, its last lead at 50-49. But Anthony Brown quickly answered with a 3 and two other jumpers around a follow to put Stanford into tomorrow’s final.

The Minutemen, deadly during this NIT when it most counted in the hostile bandbox gyms, last night made only 5-of-22 treys.

“They played their hearts out, never gave up, took us on a run that was special,” said Kellogg. “We go home 25-12, pretty good for a team that was picked 12th in the (Atlantic 10) preseason. They played with something to prove all season long.”

Especially their 5-foot-9 point guard with a Napoleonic complex hardened on the asphalt of Brownsville.

“I made unforced errors I don’t usually make, had four turnovers,” said Williams. “I wasn’t myself, let my team down. They handed our pressure perfectly and we didn’t stick to our game plan.”

It won’t deter plans to take the program to the next level with an underdog Williams. “What I loved more than anything is he has a little following now nationally,” said Kellogg. “He has elevated our program. His will to win was what our team thrived on.”